It was pushing 7 p.m. on Sunday, but at United's Gate 77 there was none of that gray-faced combination of boredom and tension that is the hallmark of passengers waiting for a flight, especially at Los Angeles International Airport.

This was a jovial, anticipatory group taking pictures of each other as if the jet outside wasn't going to Houston in the middle of the night, but off to a fun-and-sun spot like Maui or Cancun or Spain. Once on board, passengers stowed their bags and milled around posing for more photos and taking pictures of doors, seats, windows, bathrooms and, if they could sneak up close enough, the cockpit.

Because for most of the passengers, where the plane was going was beside the point. They were there for one of the first flights of United's new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the $207 million "next big thing" in commercial aviation. Though the planes have been in operation with All Nippon Airways for a year, making more than 9,000 flights, they have been strangers to domestic routes. United was offering two weeks of flights within the U.S. on its newest jet as part of a training and certification process before moving them to international routes next year.

"I'm on this flight because of the Dreamliner," said Los Angeles resident Greg Kessler, 38, who writes technical documents for scientists and engineers. "Any other plane and I would not be going to Houston tonight. There have been two all-new airliners built in the past two decades – the Airbus A380 and this plane. I wanted to see what it was like."

Kessler was hardly alone. There was the group of aviation buff friends from around the country who met in Los Angeles to take the flight together. A man from Boston had flown from the East Coast just to make the 787 flight to Houston. Strangers traded stories of their first flights on the Airbus 380 or the Boeing 747, and a few recalled with pride their trips on the now-mothballed Concorde supersonic.

I was aboard too, having nabbed a ticket minutes after they went on sale last summer. Earlier in the day, the first leg flew from Houston to Chicago full of Boeing and United brass, plus a coterie of press. Chicago is the headquarters for the airline and the aircraft maker, and Houston is United's major hub since its merger with Continental. That flight wasn't an option, if I wanted to get something close to a normal passenger experience.

All that was available was a $531 one-way "business first" class seat. I scooped it up and then booked a return flight on Southwest for about a quarter the cost.

I had hoped to be making this trip a long, long time ago. The plane is more than three years behind schedule as Boeing wrestles with the problems of a new product with new materials and avionics. Even United's ballyhooed rollout Nov. 4 ran into Boeing's production issues. The airline had planned on two weeks of domestic flights to several of its cities. But when Boeing delayed some deliveries, the launch plan was scaled back – luckily, Los Angeles was not affected. United also pushed back its plans to start international service with flights from Houston to Amsterdam. Instead, United's plane will make its international service debut Jan. 4 on the Los Angeles-to-Tokyo run.

Stepping on board, I knew a bit of what to expect, having visited the showroom in Renton, Wash., where airlines pick out their interiors. As I came in the cabin, I got a rare "to your left" instruction – nearly always the direction toward business or first class.

Inside, the 787 wasn't so much an aviation revolution as a reformation. Arched ceilings gave the feeling of spaciousness, business-class seats had electrical outlets and USB ports over the passengers' shoulder – but, inexplicably, no Wi-Fi. The screens on the seatback TVs were larger than average in coach and downright wide in business class.

I went back to the economy-class cabin, and like most airliners, the innovations drop off sharply once you pass through that curtain. Coach is nine-across, in three sets of three chairs. The passenger in front of you is still knee-knocking close, and battling for the armrest with the person next to you is evidently part of aviation's future as well as present.

But there are a few nice changes, even for those in what can sometimes seem like an airline's version of steerage: Bathrooms are roomier, with doors that pivot for an easier in and out. In one of the biggest points touted by Boeing, the overhead bins are huge. Though the flight was full, there was no fighting for space, bags slid in easily, and the bins opened and closed without hernia exertion levels. The plane also appeared roomier through a bit of engineering that curved the roof just above the aisles, adding almost a foot and a half of headroom while standing up, compared with a 767.

The LED lighting was switched around from bright during boarding to cool and relaxing during taxi to dark for the bulk of the flight. The famously large, 19-inch-tall oblong window had no shade. The light was controlled by a button that had five settings, from let-the-sun-shine to pitch black.

The 787's real changes went to work once we rumbled down the LAX runway and its curved, tipped wings lifted us into the air, banking back over the familiar grid of lights from Southern California's urban night landscape. Made of carbon fiber composite materials (Boeing doesn't like the word "plastic"), the plane can fly farther and higher on less fuel. Its target of 20 percent fuel savings over most other jetliners is the big draw for customers. The construction means airlines can pressurize the cabin at a lower altitude, meaning fewer headaches and dry mouth because the cabin has about 15 percent humidity, compared with the usual 8 percent.

With 219 seats in three classes, the plane is aimed at long-haul markets where larger planes might not make financial sense.

Looking at the seatback screen, I saw we were flying at 41,000 feet – a good 3,000 feet higher than normal jetliners. The higher the altitude, the smoother the ride in most instances, though it being fall over west Texas, we still got some bumps.

Soon – though not as soon as Boeing would have liked – the 787 will be commonplace. Orders for 838 Dreamliners have been made through September, according to Business Week magazine. At first they will appear mostly on international routes. But eventually one of its customers – United or Delta, most likely – will see the upside of offering long-haul domestic service as a way to get a leg up on the competition. My bet is L.A.-Hawaii.

When that day comes, the 787 will be a welcome addition on routes that have seen airlines retire larger, older wide-body aircraft with two aisles in favor of the single-aisle 757 or even the newly long-range but compact 737. Unfortunately for John Wayne Airport, the 787 isn't in the future for passenger flights – it takes too much runway to get into the air. So for a pleasant experience on the 787, you'll still have to endure the trip to LAX.

A United 787 takes off. The airline is the first to operate the new aircraft on domestic routes, albeit only for a short period of time. AP
A United Airlines Boeing 787 takes off for its first scheduled commercial flight from Houston to Chicago, with more than 200 customers on board Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012 in Houston at Bush International Airport. ERIC KAYNE, AP
Boeing employees work on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner on one of the assembly lines at Everett, Wash., last year. New materials and techniques have made the plane both innovative in design and often behind schedule in manufacturing. STEPHEN BRASHEAR, GETTY IMAGES

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